A Casino spitting ships

May 31, 2012

Our newly elected Gold Coast Mayor, Mr Tate, has decided that it would be nice to build a ship terminal in the Seaway on The Spit - deja vu anyone?

In fact a $30M one - but he'd like Mr Can-do to pay for most of it. And he's promised to build it within his first term. It's a "no-brainer" and will pay for itself within two years, so he says.Now a casino would be a way to fund it - what an idea... nothing like a few vices in exchange for some public open space - that's a winner. Apparently ignoring the EIS conducted by GHD which stated that even with a concrete commercial marina in the adjacent lagoon-like Marine Stadium, a ship terminal in The Seaway is "...not economically viable". Oddly enough, the need to constantly dredge the Seaway and a shallow Broadwater estuary seems rather expensive - not to mention a little rough on the environment.

Though after some adverse reaction, our newest politician, Mr Tate, now assures everyone, he is not 'married' (sic) to The Spit ... but is guided by luminaries such as previous Spit development proponents, that it's a great idea and an off-shore terminal just isn't a goer.And while Campbell Can-do suggests that Mr Tate has a 'mandate', canny Gold Coasters know full well that shanghai-ing his policy within 48 hours of the election resulted in Mr Tate winning 37% of the primary vote - but the other candidates were ALL anti a terminal on The Spit - and they got 63%... Bazinga, as Sheldon would say.

Every surfer on the planet - let alone Gold Coast would be upset with this quote printed in the GCB -:"The surfing community aren't happy about the cruise ship terminal because it will lose them some of the surf break," Mr Tate said.More classic quotes at Mayor Tom Tate Gold Coast Cruise Ship Terminal

"My strongest support is the conservative ranks, business people."

So, bemused that so few can ignore so many, Save Our Spit is back and hard at it. In addition to our website at www.saveourspit.com [1], we have a newly established page at www.facebook.com/SaveOurSpit [2]

WE'D LOVE PEOPLE TO SHOW THEIR SUPPORT WITH A LIKE ON OUR FB PAGE - to keep up with everything that's going on... and to be there when we need them J

We've got our eye firmly and squarely on all the usual suspects... and as ever, we are dedicated to saving the Spit and its glorious waterways as free public open space for all Gold Coasters to use and enjoy - forever.